The Dreadful Family
by ILoveLukeC
Summary: The Dreads are back! Devin, Tam, and Derek Dread are going to have to go through normal teen problems like dating and grades, while also having to go though the never-ending mythical problems of tri-bloods! Rated T!
1. Meet the Dreads

**To all my old reviewers, I figured out what the fancy science word was: ****DISPLACE!**

**Devin's POV:**

I sat on my bed, my head resting on my metal bed frame. I was staring at a yellow paper, covered in my sprawled handwriting, that resembled spindly spider legs, tracing webs onto my German Grammar homework. I groaned, as I tried to remember what 'Fredinnin' meant. I wrote down, 'Friends'.

My younger brother, Derek, stomped into my room. He was pouting, as usual, and held a broken red T-Rex in his hands. He climbed onto my bed, and placed the red chunks of his toy, onto my homework. Derek scowled, jutting his bottom lip out. "My Rex is bwoken," He said.

I barely glanced at him, and asked, "How'd it break?"

"I thwew it at my wall."

"Why'd you throw it at your wall?" I asked.

Derek made a tiny huff, as he said, "Because it made me angry. It just roars at nobody! Roar, roar, roar!"

I sighed, and turned to face my eight year-old sibling. His blonde hair was spiked up along his pale forehead, and his hazel eyes were scowling at his broken T-Rex. Derek wore an old Disney World t-shirt from our trip a few summers back. Even now, it was _still _too big on him.

"Derek, throwing toys isn't nice. You have to apologize to your wall. C'mon, I'll help you." I slid off my black comforter, and grabbed Derek's hand. Derek glumly sulked behind me.

We found Derek's bruised and chipped wall. It was covered in battle wounds, and crayon drawings. I put my hand on the wall, and said, "Derek is very sorry, wall. Please forgive him." I turned to my brother. "Now, you have to apologize."

I left my brother in his dim-lit room, to apologize to his wall. As I made my way to my room, I could hear rock and pop music scream from behind my sister's door.

My younger sister's name is Tam. Tammi has brown hair, but it seems to me, that it gleams like metal. I mean, seriously, it looks like someone used bronze and gold strands for her hair. But, it doesn't look hard or metallic. It's just… weird. She also has my dad's hazel eyes, which also seem to change color in the sun. Her closet consisted of blue, blue and did I say blue?

I knocked on her door. She turned her music down, and opened the door. "What do you want?" She asked.

I sighed, "What makes you think I want anything?"

She rolled her eyes, "Well, okay I won't accuse you. But, I'm broke." As if to emphasis, she pulled out the pockets of her denim jeans.

"I knew you were broke. Mom and Dad told me to not give you any money this week for the movies," I explained. Tam gave a heavy sigh, as I continued, "I came in here to ask you if you knew where Mom and Dad were."

Tam eyed me suspiciously. "You don't know? Wow, that's a first. Mom and Dad went to camp to go to Aunt Annabeth's baby shower. What is this, the fifth one?"

"Four, actually. It's because Aunt Annabeth and Uncle Percy do too many errands," I corrected. We went all serious-faced, then burst into laughter.

Tam walked back into her room, and collapsed onto her water bed. It rippled underneath her, and she sighed. Her laptop was on her pillow, and she picked it off the blue pillowcase. She scrolled for a while, and then sighed contently. She liked to sigh.

I sat down beside her, and asked, "What are you looking at?"

She thrust the laptop screen away from my eyes, but I'd caught the label Facebook. I gave her a glare, "Tam, Mom told you! No internet use, unless for homework or emergencies! It would contact the _monsters_!"

She gave me a steady glare, and said, "Dude, chill out. I'm just checking a friend's page."

I ripped her iron grasp off of her computer, and stared at the face of my sister's obsession: Jake Stoll. Yeah, _the _Jake Stoll: major football player, grade A student, and I guess, from my sister's point of view, a total hunk.

She blushed a deep red, as I gave her a raised eyebrow. "More like _stalking_," I corrected, snapping the lid shut.

She gave me a hard punch, and said, "Like _you _don't check people's pages."

I laughed, "I have _reasons _for checking. Now, let's go downstairs and-"

"AHHH!" A bloodcurdling scream flooded my ears. I leapt to my feet, and dashed to my brother's room. Tam followed, a look of horror on her face.

When I stepped through Derek's doorway, no one was in there. It was empty. Like no one had lived in that room for eight freaking years.

Tam yelled, "Oh my gods, where is he?" I bolted into the room, checking under beds, in his closet, and even in his toy boxes.

Tam said, "I'll check downstairs." I didn't even get to tell her to wait for me.

**Tammi's POV:**

Losing my eight year-old brother in a two-story house was normal. But, having him scream like he was being tortured? Not necessarily.

I raced down the spiral staircase, two steps at a time. I avoided slipping, and cracking my head open, because, well we didn't need more people screaming at nine in the morning.

When I came into the kitchen, I heard Devin's voice: "Tam! Oh my god, Tam! Help!" I stopped dead in my tracks. I didn't go any further, because um, last time I checked, my brother didn't say 'oh my god'. He said 'oh my god_s_', with an _s_.

A towering black shadow started to sluggishly exit the kitchen, toward me.

The normal person in this situation, would a) run the other way, b) scream like a maniac, and c) dial 9-1-1 with shaky fingers. And, big surprise, but I'm not normal.

So, the _non_-normal person in this situation, would a) freak out on the inside, b) figure out a plan, c) realize that plan would _never _work, d) figure out a better plan, e) run away like you're a dog chasing the overweight mailman when you see the monster with its grinning face and … one eye.

So, yeah, I ran. But, can you blame me? A freaky one-eyed dude who can speak like your older brother, just happens to be ransacking your kitchen? I bet you'd run to!

I met up with _both _of my brothers by the landing on the staircase. I glanced at Derek, who was engrossed in a handheld videogame. Devin shouted, "Holy Great-Uncle! What the Grandpa is _that_?" My brother cannot cuss right, even if it cost it his life!

Derek barley glanced at it, and said, "Cywlops."

I stared at his face, and asked, "How do you know that?"

He gave me a careless shrug, and replied, "Mommy told me stories."

Devin yelled, "Okay! Up the stairs!"

I gave him a glare, and said, "No! In horror movies, the girls always go up the stairs, _and get killed_!"

Devin and I started screaming at one another, but Derek interrupted, "If we don't go somewhere, we're going to be kwilled anyways." He gestured to the monster with his Nintendo, and glanced at us expectantly.

I felt flustered. The monster was closer to the stairs now, way too close. We'd have to go upstairs. I turned to Devin, and whispered, "Go. Up."

We raced up the stairs, and we leapt into my room. I grabbed my cell, and called Jake. Yeah, my ultimate crush was going to save us.

Jake's voice sounded groggy when he picked up, but still, my heart fluttered just the same. "Huh- Hello?"

"Um, hey, Jake, it's Tam…" I started, almost laughing at how comfortable his name felt on my tongue.

He seemed to snap to attention, "Hey, uh, what's up?"

I gave a nervous maniac laugh, "Oh, yeah, well, a Cyclops is stomping up our stairs, my parents aren't home, Devin's can't lock a door, and also, I am watching little snip-its of horror movies that I've seen over the years, where the girl is _brutally killed_. So, yeah, could you drop by with some sort of ninja moves?"

He gave me a nervous laugh, "You are weird. You find sarcasm in _everything_. But, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thanks, run like you're grandfather, Jake." I said, and snapped my cell shut. I ran over to my door, and slammed my body weight against it. My brother and I made sure the Cyclops didn't try to break in, while Derek sat on my beanbag chair playing his game.

A few minutes later, I heard Jake yell, "Die, monster! Taste bronze!" There was the sound of clashing, screaming, more clashing, and eventually something that sounded like a sandstorm blowing through our house. Jake smacked the back of my door, and said, "Coast is clear. Open up."

We unlocked the door, and Jake stood there grinning. His brown hair was flattened across his head, sticking up in spikes along his forehead. Pale freckles were sprinkled across his nose and cheeks, and he resembled a marble statue of the Greek gods at those museums, you know, but with clothes. I bet he had rock-hard abs like Hermes, though.

He brushed some yellow monster dust off his shoulder, and gave me a flirty smile. "I think I should get a reward for saving your guys' lives."

I laughed, and gave him a pat on his shoulder. "Good try, bud."

**Devin's POV:**

After watching that pathetic display of flirting, our parents honked in the driveway. All four of us walked down our stairs, and met a whole group of demigods at the bottom. My parents stood with Uncle Nico and Uncle Jared, and the Stolls stood beside each other, with Jake's baby sister in Katie's arms.

"What the _heck _happened here?" My father thundered like Zeus.

Tam gave a nervous laugh, and said, "Dev, you can take this one."

I gave her a glare, and turned to face my parents and uncles. This is when it sucked being the older sibling. "Um, we met Uncle Percy's brother, Muscle-Man."

Dad rolled his eyes, and looked at my younger brother. "Derek, what happened?"

Derek barely glanced up, "I got onto level ten. But, _Devin_ killed my person!"

See? Taking the blame _again_.

**Haha, wow I'm so mean to Devin. And, yeah, Tammi is supposed to be me, if you were wondering. And, yeah, that is how I describe me hair…**

**Also, I had the best day today! I went to Roca Berry Farm, smiled at some hot guys that worked there, had our car break down on the interstate, rode in a police car to go to a truckstop, and drank an entire can of some fancy energy drink! I **_**love **_**family road trips!**

**Disclaimer:**

**Me: I'm invited Tam, so basically I'm inviting… myself.**

**Tam: I'm not you. I could be your twin though!**

**Me: Yeah, because we look exactly the same, because **_**you **_**are **_**me**_**.**

**Tam: Are you implying that I'm you? No thanks, I like being a tri-blood. **

**Me: Are you **_**really **_**talking to yourself about this?**

**Tam: Can I answer your stupid disclaimer-thingy?**

**Me: Wow, you can read your own mind, too!**

**Tam: ILoveLukeC doesn't own PJO, but does own me, Devin, Derek, my mom, my dad, my uncle Jared, and my crush Jake.**

**Me: Awww! You put Jake last! *raises eyebrows playfully, and make hands in a heart***

**Tam: I am really hating myself right now…**

**REVIEW! Fight to become my first reviewer!**


	2. Meet Gramps and Dorm Parties

**Devin's POV:**

My mom and dad were seething in rage about how stupid we'd been by using the internet (Tammi's fault), calling Jake Stoll to "rescue" us (once again, Tam's fault!), and letting Derek play his video-game (which I will blame Tammi for, even though it _wasn't _her fault).

Derek really didn't seem to care, because after Mom and Dad yelled at us, he grabbed a cookie from the counter, and trotted up the stairs.

Tam was inspecting her nails, rolling her eyes every time Mom shouted at her to pay attention. Our uncles had left to go down to meet Grandpa, since he'd been having troubles down in the Underworld with the spirits, and the waking of Gaea, and the bad guys coming back to- Oh, wait. I wasn't suppose to tell you any of that… Oh well.

Dad threw his hands up in a frustrated gesture, as he shouted, "Gods of Olympus! What are we suppose to _do _with you kids? You don't care about discipline, you don't care about family, you don't freaking care at all! Gods, when we had you kids, I thought it was a blessing, but- Ugh!" Dad smacked his fist against the counter. My Mom glanced at us, but I knew what was coming. But, Tam hadn't seen this yet.

Skeletal hands reached out of the wooden floor of our kitchen. The boney fingers reached out, clawing at the wood slabs. As the hands turned into arms, a bronze helmet with a blue plume poked from the ground. A skull with black eyeholes slowly became a full skeleton, equipped with a long curved black knife, and bronze plating.

Tam glanced up, and when she did her hazel eyes went huge. She screamed, leapt from her chair, and ran up the stairs. I watched the skeleton stretch and make a creaking sound with his jawbone, as if he were yawning. He was probably really unused; last time I'd met him, I'd been nine.

Mom and Dad watched Tam run up the stairs. I hopped off my seat, and walked over to the skeleton. I gave him a pat on the back, and said, "Dang, you old bag of bones. You seriously need to work out. How many times have you fought this week?"

The skeleton raised three boney fingers.

"_Only three times this week_?" I asked incredulously. I turned to my dad, and shouted, "Three times, Dad! Can you _believe _that? Bones, here, is getting soft!" I turned back to the skeleton, and asked, "How many monsters have you killed this week?"

Bones shrugged.

"What! You don't even know!" I turned back to my dad, and said, "Dad! How could you hurt your war-buddy so?"

He gave me a death glare, which he was extremely good at, and said menacingly, "Room. _Now. _And, if you touch my skeleton again, you will be his next victim."

**Devin's POV (still):**

I sat on my bed, a bouncy rubber ball in my hand. I bounced the ball, making sure it smacked the wall hard enough to leave a bad dent.

My black walls were covered in dents. Some of them were from me punching the walls after losing a game, others were just for the fun of feeling strong. But, that didn't stop the walls from looking as if they'd been repeatedly bombed and pummeled.

I could hear my parents arguing downstairs. I had ways of listening to my parents talk: tiny voice recorders I'd built and hid in the walls, a miniature baby monitor, even a police beeper I'd found in my uncle Jared's stash of stuff from his life in Elysium.

I turned up the volume on the baby monitor.

"… can't take it anymore! They don't listen! How about military school? It straightened Jared up!" My father said, desperation dripping from his words.

"Jesse, absolutely not. How about camp? They could learn discipline from Mr. D and Chiron-" My dad cut my mom off immediately.

"No, no, no! Devin and Tammi have too many friends at camp. Most of them are year-rounders. Wouldn't be _wise_, right?"

"Then where are they suppose to go, Jesse?" My mom's voice was venomous, like a poisonous snake's.

"Uh… I know! How about the Underworld? They could have a little bonding time with their Grandpa! And… you know how my dad knows punishment…" My dad's voice became silent.

I could hear grunts, groans, and lots of static next. After realizing _what _they were doing, I quickly turned the knob down. I couldn't believe after figuring out where to send us for 'discipline' they were going to make-out, and most likely end up with another stupid kid.

I walked out of my room, and tiptoed to my sister's. I turned her knob, and came into the room. "Tam," I whispered, seeing how the room was dark and her computer was shut down. "Uh… Tam..?"

I stepped completely into the room. I surveyed it with my grey eyes, flickering to her bed, to the computer, to the closet. I walked over to the window, and tried to pry it open. Locked, tight.

I sat down next to my sister's laptop, and tapped the keypad. The blackness turned to bright white and blue. Facebook. How many times did I have to tell her?

She'd been messaging Jake. Couldn't she just IM like a normal tri-blood?

I closed the lid of her computer and started to walk away. I was a few feet from the door, when I heard a _snap! _I looked down by my feet, and saw a thin golden tripwire. Oh no…

I felt something strong wrap around my legs, and I was thrown into the air. Tam's closet opened, to reveal her and Jake. Jake grinned, and Tam shrieked, "Oh my gods! It worked! You are a freaking genius!" I watched my sister give Jake a big kiss on the lips. _Ew…_

I made a gagging noise. Tam rolled her eyes, and turned to me. Jake's eyes were huge, and he seemed as surprised as I was. Which was very.

Tam jumped out of the closet, and said, "So, were you eavesdropping on Mom and Dad? What's our punishment?"

I watched Jake stumble out of the closet, before saying, "Let me out of this, and I'll tell you."

Tam rolled her eyes, and slipped her hand into my pocket. She pulled out my cell phone, and slipped the keypad out. My cell phone grew into a long black metallic-looking sword, and she swung the sword over my feet.

My head smacked hard against the carpet. "Ow!" I cried, yanking my sword out of Tam's hand. I slipped it in between my legs, and snapped the wire.

I stood up, and clicked a small skull-button. My sword turned back into a phone. I slipped it into my pocket, and said, "Mom and Dad decided on the Underworld. Yeah, I know. With all of that crap going on down there, I don't know why they'd want us to bond with Grandpa, but-"

"Bond with _Grandpa_?" Tam shrieked. "You can't _bond _with the Lord of the Dead! He's grumpy, and smells like-"

"He smells nasty, yeah. Like acids and dead things…," I glanced at Jake, and said, "You can leave now."

Jake slipped out of the window, the same dazed look on his face. I turned to my sister, who seemed to be hyperventilating.

"Oh my gods, they don't have music in the Underworld, do they? They don't have neon! What are we even suppose to do down there! I bet they don't have signal, or On Demand, or decent _food_-" Tam ranted until someone's fist smacked against the door frame.

Mom and Dad peeked inside, and Dad narrowed his dark hazel eyes at us. Tam and I shared an innocent shrug, as I asked, "Um, what's up?"

My mom's grey eyes flashed over to the laptop on the bed. _Great, another month in that Hell-hole…_

Dad threw the door open all the way. He was wearing his Camp Half-Blood shirt. It was my favorite of all of them, because it had claw marks and green monster blood stains. When I was eight, my dad had told me the story to that shirt. How he'd just gotten the nerve to ask my mom to marry him, and then, just because the gods thought it'd be funny, they sent tons of monsters to see if their love was pure.

Dad's eyes gleamed like a maniac's, as he said, "Devin, Tam. You are going to live in the Underworld for a few months. Dev, you get my old Elysium dorm. Tam, you get to live in the palace. No pranks, no phone calls, and absolutely no snooping. Understood?" Before we could protest, my dad said, "Aright then. Pack your bags."

**Tammi's POV:**

I threw clothes, books, drawing materials, and a bunch of other useless junk into my suitcase and backpack. I grabbed a thin chain off of my wall. A tiny long miniature sword gleamed on the bottom of the chain. I clipped it on, so that the sword dangled menacingly around my neck. I also grabbed a charm bracelet, clipped it on, and checked all the charms. The charms made the bracelet transform into many different things: a shield, an ambrosia dispenser, a drachma pouch, and there was one charm with a skull on it. I still didn't have a clue what that one meant.

I zipped my bag and suitcase shut, then hefted them into my arms. These were going to be a long couple of months away from home…

**Devin's POV:**

After putting two pairs of boxers, three pairs of jeans, four shirts, two hoodies, and two pairs of socks into my stash of stuff, I was ready. I slipped a series of books into a secret compartment in my backpack, along with ambrosia squares, and drachmas, I slipped it over my shoulder.

My uncles were already downstairs, telling my dad about how the Underworld was basically a big riot with Gaea trying to control everybody. My mom had taken Derek to the park to meet up with the Jackson's. Derek wasn't coming with us because he was too young, so Mom had focused all attention on him.

We said bye to Dad, and stepped into the back of Uncle Jared's truck.

After about 20 minutes, we stepped out into the darkness of the Underworld. Jared escorted me to my dorm, or my dad's dorm, or his dorm, or- whatever, you get what I mean.

When I stepped inside, a guy with sandy blonde hair laid on his back. He was snoring, and a glass bottle of beer was grasped in his shaking hand. I walked around the couch, and into a room that read: Newcomers.

I opened the door, and peeked my head outside to see… A dorm party. I couldn't believe this was punishment! If there was a Heaven in Greece, it would _defiantly _be this!

The guy who'd been sleeping before, was now beside me. His blue eyes seemed to survey more than one thing at once. He gave a laugh, put an arm around my shoulders, and shouted to the dorm members: "We have a son of Hades in the dormitory! Let the freaking party begin!"

The last thing I remember was the burning sensation of beer slipping down my throat, and passing out on the couch.

**Okay, guys, I'm really sorry about not updating sooner! I just got writers block… so I made up the story as I went along. And yeah, Devin is only 15, so even **_**I'm **_**wondering why he's drinking… Luke is a really bad influence…**

**And… OMIGODS! I saw Paranormal Activity 3 last night! I only slept 2 hours, and ended up watching Spiderman, X-Men, Jake Long: The American Dragon, and the Fantastic Four… Yeah… Last night was … **_**weird…**_

**REVIEW! **_**…Please…?**_


	3. TVs, Punishmenters, and Uncles

**Tam's POV:**

Uncle Nico dropped me off in front of the bronze doors of Grandpa's palace. He said he had to check on my older brother, because his roommate was a 'bad influence'. So, my uncle left me with my grandpa who thought watching horror movies was the best way to get a kid to sleep. When I was seven, I'd gotten to watch Chucky for the first time. I've hated dolls ever since.

I pushed the doors open, and dropped my bags on the onyx-tile floor. I strolled through the mansion, going directly into the living room. My grandpa sat in a red velvet loveseat, and another guy sat across from him. Hades' black hair was decorated with his large, skull-covered crown. His dark hazel eyes seemed like skeletal eye sockets against his pale skin. Hades wore a long black robe, which was made of screaming souls. He stared grimly at the guy across from him.

The guy had short raven hair, that spiked up along his forehead like daggers. His hazel eyes stared grimly at my grandpa. The guy had a lean muscular build, better than maybe even Jake's. Hades and the guy conversed in hushed tones.

I groaned as if I were in agonizing pain. Hades and the guy leapt from their seats, and turned to stare at me. Hades' eyes seemed wild, as he shouted, "Who let you _in_? Ugh, Tam, what's wrong?"

"You don't have a TV. How the heck can you live in this place without a TV?" I rolled my eyes, and walked into the room. I glanced at the guy, who was smirking like that cat on the Smurfs. "And, who is that dude? He's kinda creepy."

The guy walked up to me, and extended a hand. "I'm Jason Nightengale. And, you are?"

"In need of a TV. Are you the COX guy? Where are your tools?" I looked around him, pretending to search for his imaginary tools.

That Jason-guy raised an eyebrow at Hades. "That's my granddaughter, Tammi. Tam, this is my son, Jason."

I looked him over. "Yeah, should've known. You wear black clothes. My dad was a Goth, too. So were my Uncles."

Jason gave a sort of squeaky laugh. "Uh, I'm not Goth."

"Oh. You must be emo then." I said.

"No, I just like the color black." Jason countered.

"Well, good for you, Emo-guy. Grandpa, could you _please _buy me a TV? And, could you ask Hermes to deliver it?"

"Yeah, sure." Hades said.

"Could you ask Hermes to deliver it without his shirt on?" I asked, making myself regain an innocent composure.

"No, because then _I'll _look creepy," Grandpa said, turning away so he could IM Hermes to bring me a TV, ASAP.

Jason, who I guess was technically my uncle, looked me over. "So, who's your dad?"

"Jesse Dread. My uncles are Nico di Angelo, and Jared Dread. My brothers are Devin Dread, and Derek Dread. My mother is Riley Catcher-Dread, my aunts are Thalia Grace-di Angelo, and Annabeth Chase-Jackson. My cousins are-" I said, until I was cut off by the doorbell ringing.

"Eee! My TV is here!" I ran out of the room, and threw the bronze doors open. Two bat-like woman stood on the opposite sides of a young guy with spiky blonde hair and green eyes. The guy's hands were hand-cuffed by black metal chains. Alecto asked, "Is Hades here? We have a new Punishmenter."

I slammed the door in their faces, and shouted, "Tell me when Hermes is back with my TV!"

Hades and Jason stepped onto the black tile. "_Another_ Punishmenter? Jeez, Dad, you got enough? How many have you had this week? Five thousand?" Jason ranted.

Hades pushed past me and opened the door. "Sorry about that," Hades said. "Whose the kid, what's the punishment? Lay it on me, Alecto."

"Damon Thorn, son of Nemesis. He decided to take revenge on a murderer by making him go insane. But, he claims to be innocent. To have been 'set up'." Alecto, Grandpa's favorite Fury, stated.

The guy, Damon, was glaring at everybody. When Hades was about to speak he shouted, "Innocence! I didn't do anything! I've been set up by the man in the cloak! You'll meet him, you'll all meet him! He'll kill us all, I tell you! Kill us all!"

I looked around at everybody's faces. "Hey, dude, tone it down. Half of the things down here are dead already. You're upsetting the skeletons."

All of the skeletal warriors were running around, randomly shooting and swiping their weapons. Hades shouted, "Stop!" and they obeyed, regaining their stone-like composures, as if they were statues from Medusa.

The Damon-kid was staring at me, as he said, "But _you're _not dead. You are alive. You are breathing. Me? I don't even remember _how _to breathe. The guy in cloak is going to kill everybody. And, this time, he'll succeed. I mean, I'm dead. You aren't."

"That made absolutely no sense. But, um, gods when is Hermes going to arrive with my freaking TV?" Right when I asked that, Hermes appeared in his winged-shoes, a large cardboard box under his arm. He wore a white t-shirt that said **Hermes' Swift Delivery Service**. He grinned under his bronze cap, his blue eyes dancing. "Hey, Uncle Hades. Brought that TV you wanted. Oh, and I see Tam's here. And, my favorite bat-ladies! And, a random Punishmenter! This day just keeps getting better and better!" Hermes said in a hyper voice.

"Did you drink five Monsters before you came here? Is that why you were late?" I asked.

"Well, of course I did! I didn't want to tire before I got here! Where's your brother?" Hermes replied.

"Devin's at the Elysium dorm. Nico was worried about something involving his roommate, so he left me here. In a place with no TV. Can I have my TV now?" I said.

Hermes snapped his fingers, making the TV disappear. I heard the sounds of drills and hammers in the living room, and then Hermes wiped his brow with his forearm. "Whew. That was tough work. You now have a plasma screen in your living room, and can watch unlimited television."

"Thank the gods of Olympus! You can all leave now! I need to watch Paranormal Activity 3 in peace!" I shooed everyone out of the house, including Hades and Jason.

I ran into the living room, flipped the TV on, and dimmed the lights. I clicked a button that said **In Theaters Now **and the commercials started. A skeletal servant walked in with a bowl of buttered popcorn.

Servants made everything better.

**Devin's POV:**

When I woke up, someone was knocking on our dorm door. Luke, who was curled up on the couch, opened his eyes, and shouted, "Shut up! There are people _trying to sleep_!"

The person who was pounding on our door, yelled, "You're dead! You don't need sleep!"

"You do after partying all night! Leave me alone! I want to rest in peace! Go AWAY!" Luke repeatedly shouted, his blue eyes wild and bloodshot.

I rolled off my couch, onto the floor. Luke glanced over at me, and said, "Man, dude, you look sick. Go take a shower. You stink, too."

"Thanks a lot, man." I said, as I stood up and stalked toward the bathroom.

After scrubbing myself in millions of bubbles, and covering myself with lukewarm water, I felt a lot better. My muscles still screamed, and I was still suffering from a pounding headache and nausea, but at least I felt clean.

I wrapped my lower-half in a towel, as I stepped out of the shower. Luke was talking to somebody outside of the bathroom, and they seemed to be having a heated conversation.

Uncle Nico's voice rang through the wooden door, "You let Devin _drink_? You are such an idiot!"

"Um, no I'm not. I defeated the Titan Lord!" Luke shouted.

"Yeah, after you helped him rise, and killed hundreds of half-bloods!" Nico retorted.

"Gods, whatever. At least Kronos hasn't risen again. You just have _others_ to worry about. Now, if you wouldn't mind, could you leave? I sort of want to get some sleep, and I can't sleep with _you _here, di Angelo," Luke growled.

"Where's Devin, Castellan?" Nico asked.

"Takin' a shower. He should be finished by now…" Luke murmured, as I opened the door.

Luke and Nico stood a couple feet away from each other. They had their fists wrapped tightly on knives, and I edged toward the side to grab my clothes. "Now, while I change, do not stab each other to death, or to… life? Uh, you know what I mean." I stepped into the bathroom, once again, and changed my clothes.

**Tam's POV:**

I'd screamed five times, thrown three bags of popcorn at the TV, and had huddled under my blanket about twenty times. I was shouting by the time the movie was over, because the ending was stupid, because they killed the dad who'd I'd thought was kinda cute for an old guy, and had pushed the mom down the stairs, and had the older daughter become a demon and attack the camera. Also, they'd made the ending so you'd be tempted to go see the fourth movie, which resulted in more moo-la for the theater people.

I changed the channel with shaking fingers. Spiderman appeared on the screen, flinging his webs out of his fingers and onto the walls, so he could fly across the sky toward the evil guys. Peter Parker's face appeared, in all its cartoonish glory. He was pretty cute for an animated character, but I liked Flynn Rider better than him. C'mon, a guy who takes a knife to the chest for Rapanzel? Even _I _can't see Spiderman risking that, and I dressed up as him for Halloween when I was seven. **(That was my favorite Halloween costume… Aw, young love.) **

Five fists pounded repeatedly on the bronze doors of the palace, which made me jump about ten feet. I grumbled in annoyance as I stood up, and unlocked the doors. Hades, Uncle Nico, Uncle Jared, Uncle Jason, and Devin all glared at me when I'd opened the door. I sighed, and said, "Grandpa, you have to reassure me that demons aren't real. Right now. Right _now_. And, Devin, never live in creepy houses with built-in attics that have those freaky doors, or sliding-glass doors. And, if you're daughters ever get an imaginary friend named Toby, I swear, I will freaking kill her!"

Grandpa said, "The only demons in the word are the Furies, and they wouldn't hurt you. You're a descendent of Hades; they'd explode into dust if they harmed you."

"Good to know…" I whispered. I looked at my brother, and asked, "What _is up _with your eyes? And, dude, your breath reeks." I plugged my nose with my thumb and pointer finger.

Devin rolled his bloodshot eyes, as he said, "Never go to a dorm party with Luke Castellan. He has _way _too many one-night stands, and he leaves you to pay the bill for the beers."

I glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. "Uh, that's nice. I'm going to go back to watching Spiderman kick some Goblin butt. Have fun… brushing your teeth. Dude, your breath is _naaassssstttyy._"

**Okay, this ending was kind of awkward… How did Spiderman and Flynn Rider appear in any of this?**

**Disclaimer:**

**Me: Okay, um, I invited Octavian today, because he reminded me of Luke. **

**Octavian: Do you have a teddy bear I could gut? **

**Me: No, but Percy has one. Here, I stole it from under his pillow. *hands Octavian Anna (the teddy bear) ***

**Octavian: Thanks. *pulls out a sharp knife***

**Me: Whoa. Whoa. **_**Whoa. **_**Put the knife down, man. Those things are even more lethal than scissors…**

**Octavian: I'm going to read the disclaimer off the stuffing, stop spazzing out over there. **

***Octavian slips the knife into the bear's throat, sliding the knife down its furry stomach, and ending it off by its threaded hindquarters. He spreads the bear onto the ground, and decapitates its head with a swift movement of his hand. He spreads the stuffing, and closes his eyes. He nods his head in agreement, as if someone is whispering into his ears***

**Octavian: ILoveLukeC doesn't own PJO or Jason Nightengale. Jason is owned by Agronaut101. ILoveLukeC does own Tam, Derek, Devin, Jesse, Riley, Jared, Jake and Damon Thorn. She doesn't own Paranormal Activity 3 or Spiderman.**

**Me: Dang. That was A- Mazing!**

***Percy runs out onto stage***

**Percy: What the HECK did you do to my bear? First my Panda pillow pet, now Anna? What do you have against furry bears?**

***Percy and Octavian run away, Percy chases him out of the camp***

**Me: Okay… Uh, bye then… **

**OMG! IT SNOWED TODAY! YES, SNOW! IN OMAHA, NEBRASKA! WET WHITE STUFF! ZEUS'S DANDRUFF! OMIGODS! IT'S NOVEMBER, NOT DECEMBER! !**

**I'm sorry for bursting into hysterics… BUT IT SNOWED! THAT **_**SHOULDN'T **_**HAPPEN YET!**

**-**

_**You Have Lost Connection With ILoveLukeC. Please Try Again Later. **_


	4. Dream Song

**Devin's POV:**

After watching a few reruns of Spiderman with my sister, and brushing my teeth about twenty times, I slipped down the dark hallway to my 'for-now' bedroom, as my Uncles called it.

I slid the door open, and was washed in darkness. The room's walls were covered in pasty black paint, and the lava lamp on the black metal desk brightened up the room so I could see a black-sheeted bed, a dresser, a bookshelf, a laptop on the bed, and a flimsy poster that hung against the wall by only two pieces of scotch tape.

I quietly strolled into the room, and slipped my t-shirt over my head, and onto the floor. My shirt rumpled up beside the bed, as I slipped under the warm comforter. I flipped off the lava lamp, and whispered, "Nighty night."

Now, since I was a tri-blood, dreams were even more important than a demigod's. So, for example, if you dreamt of receiving an iPad for Christmas, 90% out of 100, you'd end up finding one in your overfilled stocking. And, if you had a dream of somebody falling out of a tree, you'll wake up with a broken arm. Awesome how dreams work, right?

My dream started out with my sister. She was standing next to one of her best friends, Morgan, granddaughter of Nike and Athena. Morgan and Tam were laughing about something, when a guy walked in front of them. He had brown hair and light green eyes. He gave my sister a lopsided grin, as he said something that made her laugh hysterically.

When I realized the guy was just another lovesick mortal, I'd mentally rolled my eyes. Morgan and Tam got most of the guys' eyes, because, as my friends had stated, 'Tam has a hot ass'. I'd punched my friend in the face for that comment, because his eyes should've been averted _away _from the lower and mid region of my sister. Don't worry about him; all he suffered were a few bruises and a broken heart of his fantasy love life with my little sister.

The guy chatted my sister up, then said, "My name's Tony Rad. My dad used to be friends with yours. Ask him if Brad Rad rings a bell."

Tam smiled, and said, "Okay, Tony. My dad said your dad was a… magician, right?"

"Oh… Yeah! A magician! My dad loves magic! That's what being a son of Hecate can do to you. But, being a grandson is _so _much worse!" He smiled slyly as he pulled something from his sleeve. A bouquet of _real _red roses with spiky thorns, was in Tony's grasp. He handed them to my sister, and said, "Oh, and, mind the thorns. They could prick you. But, I _do _know some healing magic."

"Cool, thanks. This is like, totally awesome," my sister grinned.

Morgan nudged Tam in with her elbow, saying, "Dude, why can't _I _get a guy like that? You are so frickin' lucky." Tam just shrugged in reply, while Morgan ran off to find her cousins for a bit of friendly sparring.

Tony turned toward my sister, and said, "Ya know, there's this awesome party a couple miles away from camp. Wanna ditch?"

My sister hesitated. Thank the gods of Olympus she was taking this seriously! But, just like that, I could hear Jake Stoll shout from behind me, "Tam, what are you doing hanging out with that loser? C'mon! You're gonna miss me kick Clarisse's butt in sword-fighting!" The moment Jake spoke, my sister abruptly turned away, and she smiled at Tony.

"Let's get the Hades out of here," Tam uttered darkly.

**Tam's POV:**

I sat in my room, my blue laptop positioned on the corner of my bed, while I plugged my MP3 into my ear buds. My ear drums exploded into a wild assortment of beats, and lyrics pooled through my ear canals, into my body, into my mind. The words escaped my mouth, as if I knew the lyrics by heart, which I guess I sort of did:

"_Are you out there, where the rainy days began_

_To feel rather sad, and the walls are closing in like the darkness around me_

_It's so hard to look away, when the daylight doesn't ever stay,_

_Above this dull apartment view, oh I will surround you_

_It's quite clear that I'm stuck here, _

_So I'll devise a plan and cut out a door in my new living room floor_

_The porch light is so bright,_

_That I will quickly sneak down the dark metal shape of the rusty fire escape_

_I bought a one-way ticket, cause I knew I'd never see the ground_

_Unless I was aboard a jet plane, and we going down_

_When I wiped the tears from my eyes, the warm water took me by surprise_

_And, I woke up beside the ocean, I realized_

_**I MUST BE IN CALIFORNIA!**_

_Aloha, my happy West Coast Friends_

_Do you feel alive when the breaking waves arrive, and rush all around you_

_The beach homes in Oceanside are quite well-known by the evening tide_

_And we can sleep where we reside with redwoods around us_

_The blue air is up there and could I bring it down, _

_I'd bottle it up and save it for a sweet summer night_

_I bought a one-way ticket, cause I knew I'd never see the ground,_

_Unless I was aboard a jet plane and we were going down_

_When I wiped the tears from my eyes, the warm water took me by surprise_

_And I woke up beside the ocean, I realized _

_I Must Be In California!_

_Am I awake or is this just a dream?_

_The New Year is out here, and I will make a lovely list of your charms_

_So I'll never feel alone in your arms_

_I Must Be In California!_"

The music subsided into endless chimes, guitar strums, and drum beats. I hummed silently to the fading chorus, as the singer occasionally sung, "I must be in California!" I smiled, and opened my laptop. I checked my Facebook first, gaining five new messages from Jake and Morgan.

Since using the computer had been the reason why I was in trouble in the first place, why the heck was I on it now? Because of boredom, duh!

Since the clock on my laptop said it was about 10:00, I shut it down. Then, I stood up, walked slowly toward my bed, and laid myself down on the fluffy comforter.

My dream started out like any other. I was sitting on a green bus bench, a newspaper on my lap. The sky was a hazy gray, and a big cloud of white fog was drifting up the street. For some odd reason, it was pouring sheets of rain, but I wasn't getting wet. I could _feel _the rain, but it didn't touch me. Does that make any sense?

To make the dream even weirder, something started to rush through the fog toward my paint-chipping bench. When the fog exploded into frigid air, the black figure clopped forward. A black-coated horse stood in the street, its coat glistening with slicked rain. Its raven hair spread around its neck, and its almond-shaped eyes were a deep, dark navy blue. Long, black feathery wings flapped along its sides, like a giant butterfly. Even through the pouring rain, I could see the tip of a long spiraling, pointed black stick sticking out of the horse's forehead. A horn. The horn on the horse was accented with gold and silver flowers, rubies and sapphires were encrusted in the expensive metals. The Pegasus-unicorn-horse-thingy cocked its slender snout toward me, its eyes daring me to step forward.

This was what always happened in the dream. There was always a horse, a really majestic Pegasus, with the horn of its ancestor, the Unicorn. And, it was always dressed in precious metals from the Underworld. I'd never understood the dream, but dreams weren't meant to be understood, anyways.

The horse's eyes were large, blue pools as it stared at me, from across the road. I wanted to stand, to reach out to it, but then I'd leave the shelter of the bench. And then, I'd get wet.

You might be thinking, Isn't that the point of rain? But, actually, this rain was enchanted. This rain was from a long time ago, when Uranus was killed. Ya know, Gaea's husband? The rain had this yellowish tint, because it was actually ichior. Uranus's blood was falling from the sky. Yeah, I thought it was gross, too.

The horse whinnied in impatience, as its polished silver hooves smacked the wet asphalt, cracking it. The horse was glaring through the rain, its tail swooshing swiftly. I stood up from the bench, and held the newspaper over my head. I took my first step. And then my second. And third.

By the time I'd taken about eight steps, the newspaper had a golden-ringed hole in it from the rain. Yeah, the rain was _that _powerful that it could burn things.

Since the newspaper was utterly worthless, I tossed it over my shoulder. I tugged my hood over my head, slowing advancing toward the horse. If horses could smirk, this one was. The horse's eyes slid toward my feet, as if he were anticipating my moves, like a chess master. The horse neighed, and took a couple steps forward. As did I.

When we were within arms-width apart, I slipped my hand out of my jean pocket, and placed it on the horse's snout.

And, just like that, something hit me.

No, something _literally _hit me!

I opened my eyes to see a white plush pillow obscuring my vision. I mentally groaned, and slid the soft white lump off my face. My brother stood in the doorway, doubled over, in giggles. I rolled my eyes, and chucked the pillow at my brother's head. "Devin, _so _not funny."

"Really? 'Cause I thought it was hilarious." Devin turned away on his heel, and called over his shoulder, "Hurry up and come downstairs!"

Slowly, I slipped from my bed onto the floor. I crawled down the hallway and stairs, just to bug Devin. When I'd entered the dining room and had sat down in one of the expensive mahogany chairs, Persephone came out with skeletal servants, each holding a black bowl.

A skeletal servant with army fatigues placed one of the bowls in front of me. Tiny puff-like shapes were drowning in creamy milk, along with mini marshmallows. I picked through my bowl, to eat the gooey pale puffs, first. Then, came the marshmallows. I'd found a green trident, a white skull, a yellow sun, a pink dove, an orange sledge-hammer, a multi-colored caduceus, a pretty peacock, a bunch of mini purple grapes, a pale bunch of wheat, a silver arrow, and a red bull head. To top it all off, a giant lightning bolt marshmallow zigzagged across my cereal. I loved Olympian Charms.

Devin ate plain wheat toast with strawberry jelly (doesn't he just make you _want _to smack him?), Uncle Nico had some leftover Papa John's pizza, Uncle Jared and Jason ate the same thing: eggs and bacon. The food was all enchanted, which made it okay for us to eat (remember the pomegranate seed Persephone ate?).

Hades was at the head of the table, guzzling some orange juice from his glass. Afterwards he wiped his mouth with his robe sleeve, which caused the souls in that place to stir into tortured cries. He gave me and my brother a smile, as he asked, "How'd you both sleep?"

"Uh… Great." We both said. We turned toward each other, and glared.

Uncle Jared and Nico shared a glance, like _Yeah right_.

Persephone took a seat beside me, and said, "Okay, girlie. What's the gossip upstairs? I've been down here for so long, even Aphrodite would be disappointed in my lack of knowledge of who's-dating-who."

I laughed, and said, "Okay. My friend, Morgan-"

"The granddaughter of Athena and Nike?"

"That's the one! Well, anyway, she's dating Bryce Telloney, the son of Hermes," I stated. "Also, Jake just broke up with his girlfriend, Jazzy. She's some Justin Bieber obsessed child of Apollo."

"My taking is you don't like her," My grandmother observed.

"Of course not! Also, Connor Stoll's kid, Callie, is dating some mortal guy named Nathan Lash. She said she was going to be his prom date, and that she'd send us tons of pics, but I mean, we need proof, so now she has to drag Nate to the camp when we have our dance-" I was interrupted by Devin's dramatic choking of his orange juice.

After Uncle Nico had patted Devin's back, Devin shouted, "A dance? Who said we were having a _dance at camp_?"

"Uh, Piper and Jason's daughter, Hayley? Her siblings are planning a Prom night for camp a couple weeks before the fireworks. Where were you when she told us about it?" I asked.

"I so _totally _wasn't playing videogames in the broom closet of the Big House with the other guys! Where did you hear such a thing?" Devin quickly rambled.

"I'm going to ignore everything you just said. Now, back to what I was saying before I was _rudely _interrupted! So-" Omigods! Stop interrupting me!

"Wait. Who are _you _going to the dance with?" Persephone asked, her brown eyes wide with excitement.

"Does it necessarily matter at this moment?"

"Yes! Of course it does!" Uncle Jared chimed in, his voice high and squeaky, I guess to imitate a girl's.

"Um…," I trailed off, racking my mind for someone without the first name _Jake _and last name _Stoll_.

"How about Tony Rad?" Devin asked, but he quickly slammed his hands over his mouth.

"Uh, who?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nobody! Slip of the tongue!"

"Um, okay. Hmm… How about that Damon Thorn guy?" I asked. Everybody, even the skeletal servants, turned and stared at me like I'd just made my hand disappear before their very eyes.

"The Punishmenter?" Uncle Jason asked, his hazel eyes wide with surprise.

"Yeah. What's wrong about him?"

"Well… hmm… It could be the fact that he's dead! Oh, and, he's been damned to the Fields of Punishment for all eternity! That's the problem! Your father and mother would skin me alive if I let you date someone like Damon Thorn!" Uncle Jared blew up.

"Well, sorry for telling you all what I thought! Maybe, next time, I'll keep it to myself!" I shouted back.

Devin looked around at everyone's faces, and then said, "I'm going to go play with the hellhounds… maybe take a tour of the Underworld along the way. Tam? Wanna come?"

"Yeah. Let's go." I stated dismissively.

My brother and I walked out of the room, and slowly retreated down the dark cobblestones toward the hellhound kennels which had been moved outside of the palace.

**Riley's POV:**

I sat across from my youngest son, Derek. He had a stuffed satyr in his chubby hands, and he teethed on the satyr's fuzzy ear. I grabbed a bunch of baby blocks, and placed them in front of him. Derek gazed at them, then said, "Rwex. I want my rwex."

Our doorbell rang sharply. I stood and raced to the door, opening it all the way to see my sister, Annabeth, standing next to a six-month pregnant Thalia. Annabeth was carrying her youngest daughter on her shoulder, and Thalia was rubbing her tummy.

Annabeth's two oldest kids, Zach and Paul, both stood to the side with their younger sister. Annabeth and Thalia gave me hugs, as did my niece and nephews. I invited them in, and we sat down in the living room. The boys ran off to look at the display of monster mementos downstairs, and I stayed upstairs with the girls and babies.

Annabeth was explaining her architect job, as well as Percy's new job as a marine animal whisperer and horse whisperer. Thalia chimed in, saying she had been working at Olympus, helping Artemis with new weapon designs since she was no longer a Hunter. Also, Nico was working to become a defender of the Underworld gates, along with Jared and the new son of Hades, Jason.

Derek came over to me, and sat in my lap. Once he was sitting by me, he started to sing The Wheels On The Chariot.

"The Wheels On The Chariot Go Up and Down, Up and Down, Up and Down,

The Wheels On The Chariot Go Up and Down, All Through Olympus.

The Satyr On The Chariot Goes Munch, Munch, Munch, Munch, Munch, Munch, Munch, Munch, Munch,

The Satyr On The Chariot Goes Munch, Munch, Munch All Through Olympus.

The Minotaur On The Chariot Goes Rawr, Rawr, Rawr, Rawr, Rawr, Rawr, Rawr, Rawr, Rawr

The Minotaur On The Chariot Goes Rawr, Rawr, Rawr All Through Olympus!" Derek laughed as he clapped his hands.

"That's an… interesting song. Did you teach him that?" Thalia asked.

"No, and neither did Jesse. Devin thought it would be funny to teach his brother a song, and I told him it had to be rid of curses. So he made up this song." I stated.

"Well, it's brilliant. Ya know, Derek should sing it to Apollo." Annabeth laughed.

"Speaking of your other kids, where are they?" Thalia asked.

"Down in the Underworld for 'punishment'. But, I don't think it's necessarily helping. Tam and Devin actually have _fun _down there, since they can play with the monsters and hellhounds. And, Tam can maneuver herself anywhere. I bet she's given Hades' palace a makeover by now," I said.

"It's better than them going to camp. I don't think Mr. D would enjoy your kids anymore then mine." Annabeth replied.

"Well, Big Three's with the combined knowledge of Athena are pretty hard to compare towards. So you're right. We're so good, I even scare myself with my smarts."

**Here's a Poem I found on my grandpa's dusty old bookshelf:**

**IV**

**Ode To Liberty**

**The nodding promontories, and blue isles,**

**And cloud-like mountains, and deciduous waves**

**Of Greece, basked glorious in the open smiles**

**Of favoring heaven; from their enchanted caves**

**Prophetic echoes flung dim melody.**

**On the inapprehensive wild**

**The vine, the corn, the olive mild,**

**Grew savage yet, to human use unrecognized;**

**And, like unfolded flowers beneath the sea,**

**Like the man's thought dark in the infant's brain,**

**Like aught that is which wraps what is to be,**

**Art's deathless dreams lay veiled by many a vein**

**Of Parian stone; and yet a speechless child,**

**Verse murmured**

**Her lidless eyes for thee; when o'er the Aegean main**

**I got this from a book and it said this was published in **_**Prometheus Unbound. **_**The author of the entire book was **_**Percy**_** Bysshe Shelley!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, or West Coast Friendship. I do own Tony, Damon, Tam, Devin, Jake, blah, blah, blah! And, if you want, you can use Olympian Charms and The Wheels On The Chariot if you get my okay first! REVIEW!**


	5. Albino Pups and Tartarus

**Devin's POV:**

My sister stood beside me, as we both walked toward the kennels. She was pouting, her arms crossed, as she continued to stomp. I opened the creaky door, and slammed it behind me, on my sister. The dogs howled in excitement, each wagging their tails and slobbering onto the concrete floor. Bones, my dad's dog, was sleeping in his huge cage, his black fur speckled in gray hairs. I walked over, unlocked his cage, and stepped in. Bones opened his red eyes, and stared at me.

"Hey, you big bag of bones. How are you?" I asked.

Bones snarled, as he replied, distastefully, "If I were you, I'd leave the food, and back away slowly. This 'bag of bones' used to be top dog around here, and could eat you in a few seconds. Or, at least 30 seconds. My stomach has trouble digesting."

I rolled my eyes, and tossed a nymph limb by Bones' paws, then stepped back out, locking the cage. Bones slowly stood up, and placed his large jaws on the green-tinted fingers, biting into the soft green flesh.

I walked over to the hellhound puppies. The mothers had about 4 to 6 puppies each, which gave us about 20 puppies to care for. My sister was already in the cage, hand-feeding a black dog with a warm bottle of ambrosia. All the puppies had their eyes and ears open, so the siblings were yipping and nipping at each other. My sister was caring for the youngest dogs, since she enjoyed the puppies more than anything.

I opened the cage, and handed the mothers and older pups some meat that I'd taken from Hades' kitchen. The dogs quickly ate it, as I turned away to feed the remaining dogs.

There were about 54 dogs (including the puppies) in the kennel, each with their own cage. We had about 4 albino hellhounds, and 2 albino pups. They had white fur and red eyes, and were the rarest hellhounds ever, mostly because of their fur color and power. Since they were albino, they could bend mist and fog to their advantage, in order to mist travel. Pretty cool, right?

I opened the cage to the albino hellhounds. The puppies yipped in excitement, as one of them howled, "Foooood!"

Oh, uh, forgot to tell you… they also talk. Bones was half albino/half regular hellhound, so he could talk as well.

"Gimme, gimme, gimme!" The girl pup barked, as her teeth found a scrap of minotaur leg.

The pups devoured the minotaur leg, as I fed the older dogs some other monster scraps. The dogs gnawed on the bones, since they had already cleaned the meat right off.

Albino hellhounds were like vacuums set on their highest setting when it came to their appetites.

My sister walked over, a black puppy in her arms. She sat beside me, and brought the puppy close to her face. "Dev," Tam started. "Do you think we'll ever not be grounded?"

"Depends on your mood. When you're mad, the day spirals down the toilet. When you're happy, it goes better than usual. And when you're horny, nobody's day is safe," I said, which resulted in Tam's tongue to stick out of her mouth, like a snake smelling the air.

Tam fed the puppy in her arms, and it squeaked like a tiny mouse. The two albino pups waddled over to Tam, and watched the puppy intently. Their red eyes followed the puppy's movements, and they even tried squeaking like the puppy.

We were silent for a while, as Tam fed the puppy and I slipped meat scraps to the albinos. The boy dog, who'd we'd named Abdominal, was a little bit older than his sister, and his fur had a gray tint to it, like a storm cloud. The girl, who'd Tam named Bunny, had a tan tint like a rabbit. They were still staring at the puppy, until Tam took it back to the puppy's cage.

We let Abdominal and Bunny follow us out of the kennels, because we enjoyed their company. My sister goofed off, running up to random ghosts, and shouting, "Casper the friendly ghost, the friendliest ghost around!" I think she was pissing them off, because ghosts weren't the most friendly things to make fun of.

I dragged my sister away from the Asphodel Fields, and toward the Fields of Punishment. Tam made fun of them, too.

Eventually, I ended up taking her down to the Elysium dorms. We passed the large gate, manicured lawns, and water-filled fountains. The albino puppies followed us up to the dorm, and into Luke's room.

**Tam's POV:**

Since our walk was getting totally unbearably boring, Devin suggested we'd go to the Elysium dorm and meet his dead friends.

Dead teenagers who lived the high-life were a lot better than ghosts with absolutely _no _sense of humor. What kind of ghost hasn't seen Casper?

When we walked into Devin's old dorm room, a guy with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes was arguing with a tall, dark-skinned man in a brown suit. The blonde guy shouted, "Look, man. This is my turf. I was granted this stupid room by my dad - a freaking god, for crying out loud - and _you _think you can just waltz in here with a fancy suit and sunglasses, and tell me I can't live here anymore? That's a big load of BS."

"Luke Castellan, the reason I am here, is because I need your monthly charge. Five drachmas," The guy held out his hand, rubbing his pointer finger and thumb together. "If you fail to pay the charge, I will have to ask you to leave."

"Leave!" Luke huffed. "I defeat the Titan Lord and I still have to pay!"

"Sorry, sir, I didn't think we were supposed to give the special treatment to a traitor and host of the most dangerous Titan in the world," Charon snarled.

Devin stepped in, and dug 6 golden coins from his jean pocket. He placed them in Charon's hand, and said, "That extra coin is for when I die - it's not a tip."

Charon glared coldly at Devin and Luke, then turned to me. His chocolate eyes softened.

"You'll have to excuse me, Tam Dread," Charon started. "Luke was being difficult." I nodded, and Charon left the room.

Luke grinned at my brother, and said, "Man, I owe you one." His eyes left my brother, and found me. "Who's your friend?"

"My little sister, Tammi. And, sorry, Luke. She's taken."

"Well, when she crosses over onto the 'other side', tell her I'll be waiting," Luke winked.

I rolled my eyes, and said, "Look, dude. Stop flirting like a sick puppy. Dev, where can I go?"

"You have to stay at least by the dorm-" I cut Devin off, by saying, "Alright, alright. See you later."

I walked out of the dorm, passing a bunch misty-looking kids who were laughing. I walked out of the doors, and saw two guys who were sun-tanning in swim trunks, by a turquoise pool. Three orange heaters stood over them, which was their only source of heat and tanage. One of them had dark hair, the other blonde. The dark haired guy's swim trunks were gray with miniature bow-and-arrows. The other guy - the blonde - had a pair of orange swim trunks with mini lightning bolts scattered over them.

The dark haired guy saw me first. He nudged the blonde, and they both stared at me. The dark haired guy asked, "Are you a daughter of Hades?"

"Granddaughter, actually. And, your dead?"

"It seems so. I'm Orion, you know, the Orion from the Greek myths? Artemis's male hunting buddy?" Orion explained.

"Oh, yeah. You're a son of Poseidon, who got shot in the chest with in arrow in the middle of the Pacific. You're also a famous constellation," I ranted, mostly because my parents were Greek myths themselves.

Orion smiled, which gave him crinkles around his emerald eyes. "You're a smart kid."

"Also granddaughter of Athena. Weird how things work out, right?" I replied, smiling.

The guy with the sandy hair extended his hand. "I'm Perseus."

"OMZ! _The _Perseus?" I asked incredulously.

"Um," Perseus started.

"You're Percy Jackson's namesake! The son of Zeus and Danae! Dude, you're like a legend!" I gushed, feeling like a complete nerd.

Perseus stared at me. "Who's this 'Percy Jackson' I keep hearing about?"

"Oh, a really nice guy. Son of Poseidon, destroyer of the Titan Lord, my uncle," I narrowed down the list.

Orion looked between Perseus and me. "Uh, if you two don't mind, I'm going to try to get a sun tan," he said, glancing down at his already golden chest.

"Okay, yeah, sure. So… what's your name?" Perseus asked.

"Tamilia Dread. Tam or Tammi for short. Can I call you Percy instead of 'Perseus'? It's a mouthful."

Percy (Perseus; not Percy Jackson!) nodded, as he said, "So, Tam, what are you doing here? Visiting dead friends? Going to dorm parties?"

"Actually, looking for something fun to do. I'm only fourteen, too young for flowing ambrosia at dorm parties, and I don't have many dead friends to visit."

"Well, Tam, do you like adventure?" Percy asked, picking up a yellow shirt that said in red block print **My mom is such a Gorgon. **

"I'm a tri-blood. I _live _for adventure," I said, confidently.

"Good. Have you ever heard of Tartarus?" Percy's voice had an eerie edge to it.

"Yeah, that's where the gods trapped the Titans and the wicked beasts. I read about that last summer during a Camp Half-Blood myth class," I said.

"Nice job! Well, the reason I'm telling you about this, is because the Titans down there are starting to stir. We need to find a way to keep them asleep. And, you're going to be my personal helper," Percy said, seeming utterly confident in a girl who barely understood the terms 'left' and 'right'.

"I don't think that's a great idea… I'm not good at sneaking, especially quietly."

"You don't have to be quiet. You just have to be ready and prepared. Since my half-brother, Tantalus, is trapped down in Tartarus, Hades put a charm on the abyss. Dead and alive can venture inside, but the bronze walls prevent us from coming out. But, I have a secret weapon." Percy pulled something from his swim trunk pockets. Two golden coins were in his palm. "These coins morph into shields, which help us go through metal walls. This is our way out." He handed me a coin. "All you have to do is breath on it. But, it works only once. So, don't mess up."

"Those are the words I'm going to remember when I die," I replied, distastefully.

"What? 'All you have to do is breath'?"

"No. 'Don't mess up'." I laughed.

"Well, we better hurry. Our window of opportunity is fading." He led me away from the Elysium dorms, and stopped walking when we'd entered a dark cavern.

Tartarus was darker and creepier than I'd ever imagined. I'd thought the Greeks had exaggerated about this place, but no. They'd _under _exaggerated. As Percy and I slowly descended down the rocky slope of onyx, shadows grew along the walls. Their bodies grew taller, their fingers long enough to graze your shoulders with icy claws. I shivered, averting my gaze away from the towering figures. I stopped walking when we found the huge hole that kept the Titans from thrashing out of the Underworld.

Percy grabbed my arm, as he got closer. "We have to jump," he said.

"Jump? Has being dead made you _insane_?" I asked, feeling his arm wrap around my waist.

"You just have to trust me!" He shouted, as we plunged off the cliff, tumbling and flailing in the suffocating blackness of Tartarus.

**Jared's POV:**

I sat beside my father, as he explained the problems of the Underworld.

"First off, we have the newly dead. We've received almost a million more souls than we did the last five millennia, and half of that population was Punishmenters accused of murder, suicide, homicide, and drive-bys. All of the mortals of the world don't understand how precious their crummy little lives are. My brothers and I could crush them under foot, as if they were ants and beetles," Hades murmured.

"Don't forget how crowded the Asphodel Fields are, Dad. Cerberus barely has any room to do his business without nailing a misty apparition by mistake," Nico replied.

"I know, Nico. I've sentenced a few Punishmenters on poop-duty," Hades said. We all shivered.

"You can't forget about the other problems. The monsters are stirring," Jason muttered, quietly.

"That's actually one problem we _don't _have to deal with," Hades said. "Perseus, the son of Zeus, promised to solve that problem. I don't know how, but he said he had a trick up his sleeve."

"Well, that's great. But, another problem." I said, finally speaking up. "Jesse's kids, Devin and Tam, are going to be staying here for a while. We need to make sure they don't get into trouble, which might be harder than anything around here. Even the Punishmenters on three-headed dog poop duty wouldn't want to mess with Tam on one of her mood-swings."

Right then, a white dog raced into the room, plowing through the bronze door that kept our conversation sound-proof. Its white fur had a tan tint, as if it were a toasted marshmallow. It opened it jaws, and instead of barking or even yipping, it talked, "Hades! Tam's in Tartarus!"

"What?" Hades jumped off his velvet seat, his eyes black in rage and shock.

"Follow me! She left with Perseus at the dorms! They jumped into the abyss before I could stop them!" The dog raced out, and we all raced after.

All I could think about was how I was going to kill Perseus the second time around: barbequed or shish-cabobbed.

**Okay, I know that I spelled 'cabobbed' wrong, because Spelling Check is underlining it red, but let's let that slide. **

**Disclaimer:**

**Me: Since its snowing, I feel the need for some holiday cheer. I invited Santa Claus to do my disclaimer.**

**Santa: Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas, boys and girls- Wait, what am I doing here?**

**Me: Giving me holiday cheer?**

**Santa: Oh. Great. It's ILoveLukeC. **

**Me: Get rid of that sarcasm, buddy. **

**Santa: Since I know everything, let me answer this: Yes, you're on the Naughty list.**

**Me: (O.O) Whoa… How'd you know I was gonna ask?**

**Santa: Didn't I just explain this? I'm all knowing.**

**Me: That is **_**so **_**cool!**

**Santa: Yeah, it really is. Oh, and stop thinking about poking my stomach.**

**Me: Does it jiggle like Jell-O?**

**Santa: Yeah, it does.**

**Me: Cool!**

**Santa: ILoveLukeC doesn't own PJO (even though she relentlessly asked me about it for her Christmas present), but does own Jesse, Tam, Devin, Jared, Jake, and the Albino pups. She also doesn't own Jason (Argonaut101 is the owner) and doesn't own Jell-O.**

**Me: So, Santa, am I getting that Pegasus I asked for?**

**Santa: Um.. *flashes out; green and red smoke is in his place***

**Okay, I'd like to say Happy 9****th**** Birthday, to my little sister, Ryann! **

**And… Just FYI, not reviewing results in one less present on Christmas, people! So, Read and Review!**

**(He sees you when you're sleeping, He knows when you're awake!)**

**Doesn't that sound a little creepy to any of you?**


	6. Back Home

**Tam's POV:**

After falling for an eternity, I landed on top of Percy. He groaned, and I helped him up. Percy blew a puff of air at me, and said, "Damn. This place is even worse than last time."

I looked around, and saw a group of tall men standing together, in a circle. One of them had white hair that stuck up around his large head, like what you'd expect Einstein to look like if he's become electrified. His wild gold eyes glanced over the other men, as he said, "Brothers, I said I was sorry for becoming overwhelmed by that putrid son of Hermes. If I still had my powers, I'd reverse time so I could kill that 'Percy Jackson'."

One of the men, a tall guy with trimmed black hair, and a long cream tailored suit, sighed in disgust, as he replied, "Kronos, we gave you a chance. We gave Mother a chance. Now, we'll have to ask Father."

I watched Percy's eyes widen in fear, as he mouthed: "Uranus."

I turned my attention back to the men. One of them, a man in fiery armor, shouted at Kronos. "Brother, if _I _still had my powers, I'd blind you!" Kronos seemed taken aback by the outburst from the burning man, and he narrowed his golden eyes, "You'll regret that outburst, Hyperion. _I _once was the King of the Titans, of the world. I will get my throne back, if I have to destroy each of my imprisonments, kill my immortal sons and daughters and grandchildren, and restart my rein of power on another planet!"

The man in the suit rolled his silver eyes, as he said, "Yes, but if we must start the world over, we must bring back the _first _king. Our father, Kronos. But, we can't possibly do that if we're trapped. Father was killed by _your _sickle. Which means, the only way to bring back Father, would be to use the weapon that killed him, to bring him back."

Kronos rolled his own gold eyes. "How do we do that?"

Prometheus shrugged his large shoulders, "I cannot help. I am only the Titan of forethought and crafty counsel. This your problem, Kronos. If you wish to rule the world, you must do it yourself." Prometheus snapped his fingers, and vanished in a puff of gold sparkles.

Hyperion sighed, and spoke, "Prometheus is correct, as always. If you must try to bring Father back, you must erase time."

"What do you mean by 'you'?" Kronos asked, his voice dark.

"I mean, you're on your own." Hyperion disappeared in a shower of flame.

Kronos turned away from where his brothers had stood, and slowly walked toward the large bronze pillars that separated him from the rest of the Underworld. Bronze shackles clanked from around his bony ankles, and he gazed at himself in the bronze bars. His eyes flickered to where we stood, half hidden by a mound of onyx rocks. Kronos grinned, and whirled around to face us.

"Brilliant to see you," Kronos crooned. "Looking for monsters, I suppose?"

Perseus fumed from beside me, as he spat, "The only monster we found down here, was you, Grandfather."

Kronos' laugh stung my ears, as he replied, "Ah, Perseus. Son of my youngest, Zeus. You know, you're father should've been dead."

"Thank Rhea for that one, Kronos," Perseus growled, his eyes electrifying with a scary intensity.

Kronos stiffened angrily, but resumed his cool, as he turned to look at me. "Ah, and Tamilia Dread! Look at this pleasant little family reunion."

I glared at him, feeling myself burn. Why was it so hot down here? Must be 'cause we were so close to the middle of the Earth.

Kronos grinned again, his face matching the one of a mental person who was chained under 50 plus padlocks. "Tam, how do you enjoy the Underworld? How about Tartarus? Remind Zeus that he needs to redecorate down here."

Somehow, my voice same out nice and clear, "The only thing you'd be redecorating would be Zeus's face."

Kronos laughed, as he stepped closer, causing his shackles to make an annoying clicking sound. "Granddaughter of Athena, I'm guessing?" Perseus glanced at me, as if he were rethinking something. "Well, if you're so smart, Tamilia, how'd you end up down here? This is something worthy of eternal suffering! Sinning your godly parent like that!"

Kronos' cackle sprang against the walls, making it echo. I felt something in my stomach twist, and felt my eyes burn like fire. My palms felt frozen, but as I looked down, I could see … black flame and shadow curl off my fingers, growing taller every moment they received oxygen. My eyes widened, and I could feel an overwhelming panic grow throughout my body. Suddenly, I looked up to my hyperventilating great-grandfather, and aimed the fire at his face. And, just like that, all of the fire and shadow drained toward its target.

Kronos yelped in surprise, as he backed away from the flame, tripping over his own shackles, causing him to crash into the tall bronze pillars. A sound like sizzling came from Kronos' skin, as it made contact with the bronze bars. He shrieked in pain and anger, as the shadows and fire pelted him with dangerous blows. I felt the heat wash away from my body, and I turned to see Perseus, who looked extremely freaked out and mildly scarred for life (or is it death?).

I finally spoke, but my voice sounded weak and frail, "We better get outta here before Kronos calls for backup." And, with that, we turned and made a mad-dash toward where we'd fallen.

**Jesse's POV:**

My black car jumped the curb, as an idiot tried to run me over. "Watch where you're going, you Asshole!" I shouted, honking my horn, and flipping the bird.

I cruised down the street, and heard my phone buzz and ring. I put my Bluetooth into my ear, as I said, "Talk to me."

My brother's voice sounded urgent on the other line, as he said, "Jesse, you better head down here. We're having trouble… involving your kids."

My eyes widened, and I asked, "What kind of trouble did they get themselves into?"

"Uh," Jared started. "Promise you won't kill me?"

"What the hell happened, Jared?" I asked, my voice leaping an octave higher than it should.

"Uh, it involves Tartarus… and your daughter," Jared said, his voice lowering to a whisper.

"Dammit! I'll shadow travel over there, okay? Make sure Tam doesn't get hurt!" I hung up on him, and sped off the road, into the woods. I picked up speed, causing the speedometer to jump to a quick 67, and proceed to go even higher. I dodged the millions of pine trees that surrounded me, and I whistled, causing a huge black hole to appear in front of me. I sped through it, and reappeared cruising down the road to Tartarus. I put the car in Park, as I leapt out and raced toward my father and brothers.

Hades had worry lines around his eyes, as he paced back and forth. Nico and Jared were asking Hades about how they could get my daughter out of the hole, and my son was panicking when he saw my face.

I rushed toward Devin. "Devin, for crying out loud! You can't even watch you sister for five minutes, can you?" Devin looked up, and I could see guilt flooding his gray eyes. I turned to face my brothers, and I shouted at them as well, "Jared! Nico! Where the hell is Tam?" Jared's face was sickly pale, as he pointed down, toward the chasm.

I rushed over, toward it, and shouted my daughter's name. I listened earnestly, barely allowing myself to breathe. I shouted again, and again, but my father eventually stopped me. "She can't hear you from up here," Hades said.

"Well, can I go down there?" I asked, searching my father's hazel eyes.

Hades thought for a moment, and he nodded. He turned away, and grabbed a coil of bronze rope. He turned back, and tied it around my waist, securing it with a knot. He explained, "We'll lower you down into the abyss, and when you get Tam and her friend, tug twice. Got it?" I nodded, and said, "Lower me."

I lowered to the bottom, and I could see Tam with a blonde haired guy standing a few feet away. "Tam!" I shouted, causing her to turn. Her eyes widened, as she asked, "Dad?"

She rushed toward me, and gave me a big hug. I hugged her back, as I said, "I'm here to bring you and that friend of yours back up." She smiled, and called the blonde over. He rushed over, and told me, "We better get a move on, before the Titan of Time awakes from his slumber."

I turned to follow his gaze, and my eyes landed on Kronos, the Titan lord, who was burnt and bruised. He actually didn't seem very strong, which made me wonder why Percy always spoke of him as a huge challenge.

I picked up Tam, and told her to hold on. Then I turned to the blonde, and told him to grab hold, also. After they were both secure, I tugged twice on the bronze rope.

**Devin's POV:**

I guess that whole meeting with Dad could've gone a whole lot worse. He could've sent his skeletal minions on me, or burned me to death with his freaky powers.

I walked over to where my uncles were. They each held the rope, but they were totally off task. Nico was talking about some card game - Mystic Monsters, maybe? - and Jared was talking on his phone with the head of the company, who made the cards, to ask if a specific one was for sale. I could see that the rope was making a jerking movement, almost as if someone were tugging on it…

I shoved past my uncles, and yanked on the ropes, pulling them up with all my might. I continued to pull, until my father's hand clasped around a rock, and he pulled himself up, along with my sister and Perseus. My dad turned to look at me, and he smiled. It wasn't a full-out ear-to-ear smile, just a slight tug to the corners of his lips, but at least it was something. My sister rushed over, and hugged me like there was no tomorrow. She squeezed until I couldn't breathe, and even there, I had to mutter under my breath, "You're killing me.."

She let go, and ran off to go hug a Fury. Dad turned to look me in the eyes, as he said, "That's enough excitement for one night. How about we head home?"

"Like, home-home?" I asked.

"Home-home," Dad said, smiling. And with that, we both turned away, hopped in the car, hopped out to drag Tam inside, and drove off, back to our house.

**Meanwhile ~ Kronos' POV:**

I sat on a large boulder, examining my many wounds and burns. I scowled at the spot where that cursed granddaughter of Hades had been, and could almost see the fire and shadow still flowing from her hands. I could still feel the burns and stings of the black things, as they got to work. In all of my millennia, I'd _never _seen anything like it.

But, then again, Jesse Dread was an exception. His older brother had been killed - by none other than moi - and had been brought back to life. Jesse's fate had been the same, but here he was - with offspring! _He _had been the welder of black fire, _he _had defeated the grandson of Lamia, and somehow, he was still alive.

Back in my rule, mortals didn't have free speech or even free will. They depended on me to survive, but now? My sons had ruined the world, and I wasn't just going to stand and watch.

I need my sickle. I need to bring back my Father.

**Dun-Dun-DUN!**

**Disclaimer: **

**Me: I invited Perseus to help me out, today.**

**Blonde Percy: What the-? How'd I get here? I was just sunbathing!**

**Me: You can't sunbathe in a place with no sun.**

**Blonde Percy: We improvise…**

**Me: You know what, can you just hurry up with the disclaimer?**

**Blonde Percy: Jeez, what's got your toga in a twist?**

**Me: I'm impatient because, I want it to be Christmas already!**

**Blonde Percy: Fine, fine, fine. ILoveLukeC doesn't own PJO, but does own Jesse, Tam, Devin, Jared, Derek, Riley, and Jake. She also owns the Albino pups, but doesn't mention them in the story… Argonaut101 owns Jason N!**

**This your Christmas present!**


	7. Brad the Rad Returns

**Tam's POV:**

I laid on my bed, flipping through my photo album. My best friend, Morgan, stood beside me, as we posed for the picture. Her dirty blonde hair was placed in a high pony tail, and she was giving me bunny ears. I was grinning, holding up my own phone, and taking a picture of whoever had the camera.

I flipped the page to look at the picture of me and Devin. Devin was wearing a pair of ratty black pajamas, and had a crooked grin plastered over his face. I was toothless with caramel pig tails, wearing a pair of Care Bear pajamas while holding my baby blanket in my tiny fists. Mom and Dad were sitting beside of us, each in their own embarrassing pj's. We were posed in front of our Christmas tree, mountains of presents overflowing behind us.

I flipped toward another page, and smiled at the picture of me holding baby Derek. He was wrapped in a blue blanket, his tiny head poking through the covers. His eyes were closed, and his head was covered in pale peach fuzz. I was smiling, looking up at the camera, like _Look at how cute and non-annoying this little baby is! _

I flipped the page, to find a picture of me holding Derek, but to find his face bright red, as he shrieked. My face looked terrified, like _Oh crap! Take it away!_

I felt myself smile, as I tucked the album under my bed. I could hear Mom trying to convince Derek to eat a type of veggie but he kept replying with, "No, Mommy! Greenies, yuck!"

My brother was probably playing video games and rotting his brains out. It wasn't like I cared, but if he didn't get good grades or a great college, Mom and Dad were going to expect that of _me_. And, as far as I know, that so isn't gonna happen.

I heard my phone buzz, and I picked it up, placing it into the crook of my neck, "Hello?"

"Uh… Hi, Tammi… It's Randy," One of my friends from camp said, quite nervously.

"Oh, hey! How's your winter been? Have you figured out your godly parent yet?" I asked.

Randy laughed, as he said, "Hermes's my godly parent, and winter's been… cold, I guess."

I thought for a moment, before saying, "Why do you seem so nervous?"

"Wh-what? I-I'm not nervous at all!" Randy exclaimed.

I could hear stifled laughter on the other end of the line. "You aren't?"

"No! I mean, why would I be?" Randy quickly corrected.

My eyes narrowed, as I said, "Randy, cut the crap. Lemme guess, Hermes cabin set you up to this? Were you stupid enough to play Truth or Dare with them? Oh gods, you were!"

I could hear someone's familiar voice whisper, "Hurry up, Randy! Show us you're worthy!" Oh my gods, Jake was there, too!

"Um, Tammi… W-Will you go out with me?" Randy stuttered, and before I could get over the initial shock of the question, a thunder of laughter sprang from the other line. Oh gods, Randy must've been humiliated!

I stayed silent for a long time, longer than you'd think possible. I needed to think this through. My maybe-boyfriend was in that circle of idiots who'd put poor Randy, a newcomer who'd already become an Ares punch-bag, into a stupid game of dangerous dares and life-changing truths.

Finally, just to get back at Jake, I said, "Fine." Gasps shot from the other line.

"Really?" Randy asked, his tone light and surprised.

"Yeah, totally. Where do you wanna have our first date?" I asked.

"Uh, how about the movies?"

"Cool. I'll buy the food, you got the tickets?" I compromised.

"Yeah! Uh, see you next week… girlfriend!" The phone hung up immediately.

Oh gods. What did I just get myself into?

**Devin's POV:**

Whatever my sister told you I was doing - I wasn't. I didn't steal anything, or kill anybody. I was cooped up in my bedroom, a computer screen in front of my gray eyes, as I watched words and pictures rapidly scan across the black screen. I had ear buds in my ears, so I could listen to the video.

A guy in a long trench coat walked up to a young woman, and he whispered something into her ear. I watched cautiously, as she nodded, and whipped out a magic wand - the ones that those magicians would use when they pulled a rabbit from their hats - and leveled her gaze at a growing shadow that walked down the street. Her hat was blown off her head, revealing red-streaked golden hair and imitating hazel eyes. She nodded toward the man in the trench coat, as he pulled out a long curved sword, the ones Egyptians would use for sacrifice. His own hat was blown away from his wild bush of black curls, revealing darker skin and brown eyes.

They both ran into action, and suddenly, the shadow dispersed into a … thing. It was the color of a swamp, and its arms were long and bony. Two alligator eyes opened, revealing yellow irises and black slits. It opened its long jaw, biting and snapping with swift jerks of its many sharpened yellow teeth. The girl dodged easily, zapping the air in front of her with her wand. All of a sudden, a great female lion appeared in a rush of red magic, roaring and snarling. Its golden body leapt toward the alligator beast, as they clashed and bit, and scratched and destroyed.

Meanwhile, the man raced toward the beast, his curved sword glowing with a yellow fire. He plowed it into the beast's side, causing it to fall to the ground in agony. The man grabbed a long golden cord that hung around the beast's neck, and he grinned up at the woman. His smile meant two words: _Mission accomplished. _

A man's raspy voice echoed from the audio, as he said, "If you have see these two fugitives, please call the Crime Stoppers hotline, 555-MAGIC. Report them immediately, and remember: They are armed and dangerous."

The video then showed the man and woman, close up. The woman's name was Sadie Kane, and her brother was Carter Kane. I'd read a few of Julius Kane's books for my school projects, and I'd known he'd had two kids and a deceased wife. After his last book was published, he mysteriously disappeared from a museum in New England, after destroying one of the precious artifacts.

I pulled a notebook from my pile of papers, and continued an entry I'd made.

_Possible Demigods or Otherworldly Beings:_

_Raschal Flatts: Apollo_

_Justin Beiber: Apollo (Because no guy can get that many girls.)_

_Leonardo da Vinci: Athena_

_Rick Riordan: God of Writing_

_Sadie and Carter Kane: Otherworldly Beings (Because I haven't seen them come anywhere near New York.)_

I tossed my notebook on the floor, and checked my Facebook page. Andy, Percy's oldest son, had posted on my page, about how he'd done a quiz: Who's Your GodlyParent? Of course, he's gotten Poseidon, since he was more like his dad then his mom.

I took the quiz, but I got a message instead of an answer.

Devin, this is Hermes. Your G-Ma's all mad because you were so dumb as to take this quiz. You got Athena, BTW, which is just really ironic.

I laughed, as I logged out and thanked Hermes for the internet. I could smell something burning downstairs and knew it was time for dinner.

Riley's POV:

I brought out a tray of chicken nuggets and french fries. I placed them on the picnic table outside, and began to arrange the paper plates. Jesse came outside with Derek in his arms, and he gave me a kiss. "How have the kids been?" he asks, as he places Derek in a highchair.

"Better than I expected," I said. "Tam and Dev have been in their room all morning. Geuss your Dad actually bent them into shape."

He smiled, as he set up all of the plastic cups which were enchanted so we could wish for a type of drink and it would fill up. I heard the backdoor slam, as my daughter and oldest son exited the house.

Devin and Tam took seats on the opposite side of the table. Jesse lit the bonfire with his hands, and we all watched the black fire for a moment. So many things had happened since Tam and Devin had left for Hades' Underground palace.

Tam had received her fire powers, Devin had made dead friends, Derek had learned his ABC's. It was all so overwhelming to know my kids were growing up, and one day, wouldn't need me anymore.

We all stood up (except for Derek, of course) and scraped some food off for the gods, then sat back down. I brought the cup up to my lips, and drank some magical Sprite, which left my throat tingling.

I was almost relaxed until I heard the loud voice of Jesse's old friend shout, "Hey, guys! A barbague? Sweet!" I turned my gaze to my husband, as I said through grittted teeth, "Oh, no you didn't."

Jesse gave me a nervous smile, "C'mon! It's _one _dinner. Brad lost his wife a month ago; we should at least let him stay."

I looked over my shoulder to see Brad Rad and his two kids. His oldest son looked bored out of his mind, and his baby daughter was taking an odd intrest in Brad's overgrown hair.

Suddenly, I knew this night was going to be the worst one of my 31 years, even the one where my mother had almost blown Jesse up because I'd found out I was pregnant with Devin.

I know this has taken a long time to make, and it isn't very great, but please don't flame. I had to somehow transfer all of my stories onto my laptop, so it had to keep fixing and remaking this.

Thanks for listening, and reading. Review, please.


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